I arrived at Haneda Airport at 0615 hours, greeted by the inky blue skies and the brisk cold air. Upon the efficient immigration and baggage claims, it was straight to the ticket station to top up my Suica, the subway card that will allow me to transverse the Tokyo metro. Good thing I had earlier purchased this card during my last trip to Japan!
Taking the Keiko line, it was all the way down to Shinagawa station where a change of train along the Yamanote line was made towards Shinjuku station. It was still very early at around 7am when I arrived at Shinagawa station, but the working crowd had already started to gather in fury. This is something I'm familiar on almost a daily basis when I go to work. Somehow, it was therapeutic looking at the crowd when I was on holiday. The mood was just different! Haha.
Finally arrived at Shinjuku station. This is one of the busiest stations in Tokyo, with multiple lines connected, and thousands of passengers walking through each day! With big luggage bags and thick winter coat plus the huge crowd, it took a while before locating the Odakyu ticket counter. It was super early with no queue, good time to purchase the Hakone 3 days free pass. Well, the pass isn't really fee but it allowed one to take the return journey to Hakone, and enjoy some attractions in Hakone, with others at a discount. The Romance Train is an addition to the free pass, and would take around an hour instead of the usual 2 hours to reach Hakone.
However the train departure time saw a wait time of an hour at Shinjuku. Hence a hot cup of mocha latte at Cafe Lu-Le at the West exit, plus a short window shopping around the station.
Another short wait later and the Romance Train started to move out of the station. The ride was smooth, with the Tokyo city scene changing into the suburbs and outer city views. On board, a bento was purchased, but it was cold and not very tasty. A transfer was made at Odawara station for JR time towards Yugawara Station. It was then a short 15 min bus ride to arrive at Ootaki Onsen hotel. As the check in time was still 4 hours away, the bags were deposited at the reception while exploration of nearby sights began. .
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| footspring park |
After the soak, it was off for a simple lunch at a local ramen store before heading for the local mini mart for some essentials and a very interesting and simply delicious cream cheese ice cream!
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| gyozas |
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| ramen lunch |
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| me and my cream cheese ice cream |
Then it's was a nice walk up the hills back to check into Ootaki Hotel. The room was spacious with a living area and a window side sitting area (with great views of the greenery!) Very Japanese feel with tatami flooring. The first thing after checking out the room was heading for the in house onsen. The onsen consisted of 2 pools: indoor and outdoor. The washing area was located by the indoor pool. After a thorough cleansing, it was straight into the indoor pool. Oh how I'd missed the soak! It was a nice temperature and very relaxing. The outdoor pool was supposed to be hotter, but felt cooler due to the cold weather. The scenery of the nearby forest made the soak more enjoyable and relaxing!
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| my BIG Japanese dinner in room!! |
The dinner consisted of a plate of sashimi with 7 varieties of fishes, a hot pot for 3 slices of beef, fish paste vegetables tempura, salmon rice porridge, chicken and radish stew, grilled yam and pumpkin topped with miso jam, fatty tuna cooked with sour plum jam, chawamushi, seasonal sushi and a refreshing sour plum jelly as dessert! I was already looking forward to breakfast the next day with this awesome spread!
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| very Japanese sleeping |
After dinner, the staff cleaned up the area and converted it into typical Japanese sleeping mattresses. I was so tired from the flight and I slept for almost 10 hours!! Very nice and restful indeed!
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